The league and the Player’s Association have agreed to extend the play-in tournament format through the 2021-2022 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The play-in tournament was introduced for the 2020-21 season, and it gave the teams that finished ninth and 10th in the final regular season standings in each conference an opportunity to qualify for postseason play.
The fact that the play-in tournament is returning for a second season isn’t much of a surprise.
The NBA is clearly still approaching the tournament on a year-by-year basis, as opposed to committing to it for the long-term, so there’s a chance that it won’t be back or a tweaked format will be introduced after the 2021-22 season.